Parliament OKs Waste Law as Protesters, 2 MPs Warn of Incinerators

The parliament on Monday approved a controversial waste management law amid an outcry from civil society groups and the two lawmakers Paula Yacoubian and Osama Saad.

“In its legislative session held under the chairmanship of Speaker Nabih Berri, the parliament approved today the draft law included in the decree 8003 that is related to the integrated management of solid waste,” the National News Agency reported.

A group of protesters rejecting the draft law had earlier staged a sit-in outside parliament that coincided with the legislative session.

MP Osama Saad, who took part in the sit-in, said: “The file of waste management in Lebanon is controlled by politics and mafias. It has dangerous repercussions on the health of Lebanese. The crisis must be addressed differently.”

MP Yacoubian for her part stated: “We reject legalizing incinerators through the parliament because cancerous diseases in Lebanon are spiking high. It is crucial that the draft law be rejected.”

Lebanon's parliament had convened on Monday to study several draft laws including the one on waste management.

An unprecedented waste-management crisis had erupted in July 2015 after the closure of the central Naameh landfill. It saw streets overflowing with waste and the air filled with the smell of rotting garbage in the capital Beirut and Mount Lebanon.

The crisis sparked months of violent street protests against the entire political class, with protesters and environmentalists calling for eco-friendly solutions that do not involve incinerators and landfills.

Wouldn’t it be just great to take so much trash and dump mountains of it around the dirty politicians’ homes in order to prevent them from taking their cars and fleeing. It’d be a well worth sacrifice for the locals.

I think the Special Tribunal for Lebanon should look into whether this group of former (since the recent, not-so-recent, election) Parliamentarians has any authority to even use the building, must less pass legislation.

Bad planing and inability to move their differences and money making schemes aside has driven this to the now desperate plan of incineration. Now we can only wonder who is going to make a killing on importation and monopolization of the units.